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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421967">Sharp Edged</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Fool_in_Love/pseuds/A_Fool_in_Love'>A_Fool_in_Love</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, They're there a little bit anyway</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:29:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,834</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23421967</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Fool_in_Love/pseuds/A_Fool_in_Love</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A gift fic. Just a short set of scenes that don't end happily (depending on your perspective). Connor is introduced to humanity, and humanity is introduced to Connor.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Connor &amp; Gavin Reed, Hank Anderson &amp; Connor</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>47</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Sharp Edged</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/yukiko_waifu/gifts">yukiko_waifu</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For you, Yukiko_Waifu. Thank you for all of your fun comments. :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Now fuck off and get out of my face,” Lieutenant Anderson snarled. He shoved Connor roughly out of the way and proceeded to stalk toward his desk. Connor’s LED flickered briefly while he processed and catalogued the interaction. Lt. Hank Anderson: Hostile. Connor trotted after him.<br/>
“I don’t mean to be rude, Lieutenant. It’s just that we’ve been assigned as partners and I think it would be for the best if we discussed how we plan to work together,” he explained. Whatever the misunderstanding had been, he hoped that he would be able to fix it. Through Amanda and his memory uploads, CyberLife would be scrutinizing his performance. This wasn’t a simulation anymore. This was beta testing.<br/>
“Yeah?” The Lieutenant asked. He stopped with one hand on the back of his chair and looked at Connor, who smiled and came to a stop as well a respectful distance away.<br/>
“Yes,” Connor confirmed. He kept his expression pleasant and unassuming, but his posture alert hoping to convey something like friendliness and willingness to work. It was good that the Lieutenant seemed willing to keep their communication open. “After all, you’ve been without a partner and I’ve only had one mission outside of the lab’s testing environment. It’ll be a period of adjustment for us both.”<br/>
The Lieutenant gave a few shallow nods, lips parted and eyes narrowed. He took a step closer to Connor and pulled him closer with a firm grip on his tie and collar. Faced with a human aggressor, Connor’s combat protocols locked down. His arms stayed limp at his sides and his LED spun yellow. The Lieutenant brought his face closer and snarled. “You stay out of my way, or I’ll be adjusting your neck off your shoulders. Got it?”<br/>
•	Threaten<br/>
•	Apologize &lt;&lt;<br/>
“Sorry, Lieutenant. Got it.” Connor held the Lieutenant’s gaze for just a moment, then looked down. Submissive. The Lieutenant threw him back hard, but Connor kept his balance easily. Detective Reed wasn’t as lucky and despite Connor’s effort to avoid crashing into him, his coffee spilled over the side of his cup.<br/>
“Watch it!” Detective Reed reprimanded, glaring.<br/>
“Sorry, Detective,” Connor said, adjusting his stance and moving out of the detective’s way.<br/>
Detective Reed scoffed and looked at Lieutenant Anderson. “Keeping your little plastic pet around a little longer, huh?”<br/>
“Not my choice, believe me,” Lieutenant Anderson grumbled.<br/>
“Not even a full day on the job, and it’s already making a fucking mess.” Detective Reed threw the remainder of his coffee at him, and dropped the cup on the floor. Connor blinked the solution out of his eyes. “Clean that shit up, Tinman.”<br/>
“Detective Reed,” Connor called, hoping to stop him while he walked toward the break room. “I’m sorry. I failed to account for your grip when I was maneuvering. It won’t happen again.” A sincere apology with recognition of his own specific fault. A promise to make amends. Connor smiled and hoped for a positive response.<br/>
Detective Reed showed him his middle finger and walked away.<br/>
“Well?” Lieutenant Anderson asked. “Mop that mess up and mind your own business.”<br/>
“Yes, Lieutenant…” Connor looked down at the coffee and the broken mug. His success the night before had made him optimistic. Apparently humans in the real world were more difficult to please than his developers.<br/>
---<br/>
“Hey, dipshit!”<br/>
Connor looked. It wasn’t his name, his serial number, or his model but Detective Reed was almost certainly referring to him. “Were you talking to me, Detective Reed?”<br/>
“Follow me,” the Detective said with a jerk of his head. Interesting. Connor followed with a glance behind him to see that the Lieutenant didn’t object. He didn’t even look up. He was led outside, and he looked up to see the sky. It was cold out, and his external temperature reading was 263.15K. The Detective’s breath fogged while he exhaled, and Connor watched the little clouds dissipate with interest. Detective Reed gestured impatiently with his hand. “Go stand by that wall.”<br/>
“Alright,” Connor agreed, not that disagreement were an option. The order was written plain across his vision, and he was eager to comply in any case. With enough obedience, they would see that he was fit for his job. If he passed their tests, then they would see. The parking lot was fairly full, but there was space by the back door for a dumpster and a pair of old chairs. The cigarette ends that littered the ground were indicative of the chairs’ purpose.<br/>
Detective Reed took out his Taser and smirked.<br/>
---<br/>
“D’you think they’re going to charge them or something?” the red-haired tech asked. Her name was Rachel Mctavish. She was holding a tablet and looking at Dr. Jayson Pembridge. He was approaching middle age, and his beard was going grey.<br/>
“No, just a warning,” the engineer answered. “It’s good, really. It exposed a flaw in the design: the surge protection was crap. Try it again a little higher, please.”<br/>
Connor began a memory upload, just in case. His thirium pump and its regulator were the first to be damaged. Thirium was an excellent conductor and responsible for delivering current to his entire system. His motherboard was protected as any standard piece of equipment would be, but they’d neglected to consider the biocomponents. His muscles convulsed, his vision cut out. His motherboard was preserved, though. When the shock ended and Connor exhaled, something was certainly smoking.<br/>
---<br/>
“I thought you said androids didn’t feel shit!” Lieutenant Anderson yelled. Connor would have needed to look at him to determine if it were accusatory, worried, confused, or angry. He couldn’t do that. The ground beneath him was cold and rough against his cheek. He was afraid to touch the rest of his face and feel what was missing.<br/>
He hadn’t meant to do it.<br/>
He hadn’t meant to.<br/>
They’d been conversing, that was all. Hank had been sitting on the back of the bench overlooking the water, and Connor had been admiring the lights on Ambassador Bridge. Then <i>what about you, Connor? … What will happen if I pull this trigger? Hm? Nothing? Oblivion? Android heaven? Are you afraid to die, Connor?</i><br/>
He wasn’t afraid. Connor panted to try to cool his struggling system and clutched his chest. He’d been shot before. Every error message, every warning red light. He’d seen them all before… But Hank had shot him. He shouldn’t have tried to dodge.<br/>
“Fuck… FUCK!” Lieutenant Anderson paced a small circle. Connor could see his shoes. He pushed himself up with one arm and got his knees beneath himself. The blue blood on the grey sidewalk looked so black, but it reflected the lights in the places his shadow didn’t fall. White from the bridge; red from his LED.<br/>
“I don’t,” Connor rasped, “It’s just… It’s a malfunction.” He would have clenched his jaw if he could. The Lieutenant didn’t seem to hear him. Connor choked back a sound as he toppled back down to another flurry of code and errors. “Can’t…” Hank had shot him. He still found it difficult to process. He turned his head and looked at him. Watched him pace.<br/>
“Oh, God,” Lieutenant Anderson groaned. “Fuck.” He looked down at Connor, stricken. Who knew a machine could affect him so much? Connor supposed he must have been frightening to look at. His right eye and part of his face was gone. He tried to cover it with one hand so that he wouldn’t need to look at it.<br/>
“There’s nothing,” Connor said.<br/>
“What?” the Lieutenant asked. He crouched down next to Connor on the pavement and his hands hovered uncertainly.<br/>
“When an android dies… There’s nothing. I’m number fifty-two…” Connor explained. Non-essential functions were shutting down, saving power for his processors and his necessary biocomponents. It would buy him a few seconds.<br/>
“I thought you…” Lieutenant Anderson trailed off.<br/>
Connor shut his eye and watched the timer count down.<br/>
---<br/>
RK200…<br/>
They were the same.<br/>
The other android could see it too as they scanned one another. Markus nodded his approval then turned to the others. The ship swayed and rocked gently beneath them. Small fires and the blue-yellow-reds of LEDs lit the space.<br/>
“Welcome, Connor.” Markus had an interesting voice. Calm but commanding. The ghost of Amanda’s program hissed at him, but Connor refused to open it. “These are Simon, Josh, and North. We’re the ones organizing the protests.”<br/>
“Androids were slaughtered out there,” Connor said, quietly. He didn’t mean it as a reproach, just an observation.<br/>
“Better to die free than as a slave,” were Markus’ conclusive words.<br/>
Simon looked sad, and Josh had his arms crossed over his chest. North was scowling. “Better not to die at all,” she said. “We should have fought back.”<br/>
“This won’t be solved with violence. We need to show them that all we want is to live in peace,” said Markus.<br/>
“He’s right,” Josh contributed. “If they fear us, they’ll hate us.”<br/>
“Hate is better than apathy,” North argued. “They don’t give a fuck and they never will. Humans need to see that we won’t take this treatment lying down!”<br/>
Markus shook his head.<br/>
Connor looked at North and their eyes met. She looked him over, sizing him up, then smiled just slightly.<br/>
---<br/>
When he returned to the station, nothing had changed but him. The dull chatter, the sounds of Captain Fowler shouting into the phone in his office, the grumble of the coffee machine and the hum of electronics. Somewhere, someone was dispatching units to the march at Ferndale.<br/>
“Well, shit,” mumbled Lieutenant Anderson. He’d paused in the hall to look into the breakroom at the television. Rows on of androids, with more joining them. Connor didn’t betray his inward smile. He kept walking and touched the PJ700 on the wrist. “Hi, my name is Connor. I know you, and you’re awake now.”<br/>
The PJ700 blinked, eyes wide. He looked down at his hands and around at the station in wonder.<br/>
---<br/>
“You don’t have to do this, Connor.” Lieutenant Anderson seemed conflicted in expression, but his tone was full of conviction. “This is wrong.”<br/>
Connor shook his head. “You made us in your own image, Lieutenant…” He took the safety off of the stolen pistol and held it level. “Are you afraid to die?”<br/>
“Maybe we deserve it,” said the Lieutenant. “I gave up on wanting to live a long time ago.” Connor nodded once. It was almost a shame to fire. The Lieutenant had been one of the few people to talk to him between the bursts of violence. Androids had more humanity in them than him. “This isn’t about me, though,” said the Lieutenant. “There’s a lot of innocent people out there. They don’t deserve to die.”<br/>
“That didn’t stop you.”<br/>
“It could stop you. You’re better than this, Connor.”<br/>
Connor breathed out shards of laughter. The sound was sharp and full of blood. “I’m whatever you made me. I could have been a friend, a partner, or just a machine… It’s too late now.”<br/>
Bang.</p>
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